Scott Beardsley Reappointed to 3rd Term as Dean of UVA Darden

The University of Virginia today announced the reappointment of Scott C. Beardsley as dean of the Darden School of Business.

The reappointment positions Beardsley to serve Darden through 2029, including a year of research sabbatical, and to continue the tremendous progress and growth the School has experienced since he joined Darden nearly a decade ago. Beardsley is the longest serving dean at the University of Virginia today. He is also the only dean of Darden since its founding dean in 1955 to be appointed to a third term.

“In this season of gratitude, President Ryan and I are pleased to share that Dean Scott Beardsley will begin a third term starting August 1, 2025,” said UVA Provost Ian Baucom. “Dean Beardsley has taken crucial steps to build upon Darden’s solid foundation. The work has drawn recognition from business leaders, peer institutions, alumni and donors, and has achieved the highest rankings in Darden’s history.”

The ninth dean of the Darden School and Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration, Beardsley was originally appointed in 2015. Under his leadership, Darden has:

• Significantly grown and invested in faculty excellence
• Enhanced its world-class student experience and expanded access to the Darden MBA
• Elevated the School’s already excellent rankings
• Attracted record support from alumni and friends
• Expanded its reach and impact in lifelong learning

Beardsley’s second term included leading the school through the global COVID pandemic, when Darden successfully maintained in-person teaching and learning, invested in ways to create community, and offered enhanced flexibility, leading to Beardsley’s recognition as “Dean of the Year” in 2020.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue to work with the incredible community of the Darden School of Business in pursuing our mission to improve the world by developing responsible leaders, and to my wife Claire, and family who have been critical to any success I’ve had,” Beardsley said. “I am invigorated to continue pursuing progress with all of our stakeholders to ensure that Darden cements its position as one of the best places to learn, teach, research and work in higher education. In a world in which responsible leadership remains at a premium, Darden can be a beacon of hope as we inspire and develop the leaders of today and the future.” 

Since 2015, Darden has grown its faculty and hired more than 60 new members and invested in significant new resources for faculty excellence, enhancing the School’s reputation as the best place in higher education to teach and learn the principles of responsible business leadership.

Beardsley has invested in faculty and staff development and a culture of connection and belonging. Darden’s academic programs are led and supported by the academic leadership, including seven senior associate deans, who work with the administrative leadership to set strategy and ensure collaboration.

Darden enters the final stretch of its Powered by Purpose campaign through June 2025 with a distinct focus on philanthropic efforts through the “Faculty Forward” phase. The School is also poised to make significant upgrades to the Faculty Office Building, modernizing its design to facilitate collaboration and innovation.

“Our faculty and the transformational experience they provide our students and learners are what distinguishes Darden from other business schools,” Beardsley said. “Thanks to them, we are recognized year after year for having the best education experience and top faculty in the world.”

Under Beardsley’s leadership, the School has expanded its reach and educational impact through program innovation and new offerings. Darden expanded its Executive MBA Program, launched a new Part-Time MBA program, and introduced an innovative joint venture with the McIntire School of Commerce, an M.S. in Business Analytics. Darden has also innovated with new forms of educational delivery and grown its offerings in Executive Education & Lifelong Learning.

In October, the School celebrated the groundbreaking of a $150 million student housing project that will further solidify the student experience with the addition of two new buildings on Darden Grounds. The combined 218 apartments, including studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom units, will offer approximately 350 beds.

The project is made possible in part by a transformational investment and lead gift from David (MBA ’78) and Kathleen LaCross.

Other accomplishments during Beardsley’s first two terms include:

Record enrollment, rankings success, talent development

• Record increases in applications and enrollment in recent years among women, military, underrepresented minorities, first-generation and global students.
• The highest rankings in its history, including: #1 U.S. Public MBA Program (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2022-24); #1 Public MBA Program (Poets & Quants, composite, 2023, 2024); #1 global public business school (Financial Times, 2024); #1 in category and composite rankings vs all U.S. schools (The Princeton Review, 2023, 2024); #1 for carbon footprint (Financial Times, 2023); and on 3 December its highest overall ranking ever in Poets & Quants.
• Investment in growing the professional staff and new initiatives in talent development, employee engagement and career development.
• Record growth in enrollment, partnerships, offerings and revenue from Executive Education & Lifelong Learning, provided by the Darden School Foundation.

Thought leadership, initiatives, partnerships

• Investment in Darden’s faculty and thought leadership ecosystem with new faculty chairs, creation of the Office of Research Services, revitalization of the PhD program, and the launch of the David and Kathy LaCross Institute for Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Business and the Sands Institute for Lifelong Learning.
• Establishment of initiatives that advance Darden research and thought leadership, including those focusing on health care, private equity, transformational leadership and learning, venture capital, belonging and community, and sustainability.
• Launch of a UVA Darden-Data Science Collaboratory, including creation of an MBA/MS in Data Science dual degree. Partnership with UVA Innovates at the institutional level, and with the UVA School of Education and Human Development to support the Partnership for Leadership in Education.

Record philanthropy, D.C. expansion, master planning

• Record philanthropy of over $610 million in the past decade, including transformational gifts with impact of over $100 million, $82 million and $30 million.
• Opening UVA Darden D.C. Metro on the Sands Grounds in Rosslyn as a platform that allowed for the expansion of the Executive MBA program, launch of the Part-Time MBA, launch of the M.S. in Business Analytics with the McIntire School, and extended impact for lifelong learning.
• Completion and opening of The Forum Hotel, operated by Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, and the accompanying Tahija Arboretum and LaCross Botanical Gardens.
• UVA approval of the revised Darden Master Plan, including the plans for new student housing, enhancement and expansion of the Faculty Office Building, Research Building, and the Batten Global Innovation Nexus.

Beardsley said a focus of his third term will be on guiding key components of the School’s strategic plan leading into its 75^th anniversary in 2030, including increasing affordability and access through resources for student scholarships and financial aid, advancing Darden’s preeminence and impact on the world through new research and thought leadership resources for the faculty, curricular and programmatic innovations, raising funds for endowed professorships and bringing Darden’s facilities master plan to fruition.

“The Darden School of Business is in a strong position,” he said. “Our challenge is to not only protect that position but strengthen it and build sustained excellence to ensure Darden, and its students, faculty, staff and alumni, remain at the leading edge in promoting the good of society for future generations. Serving as dean at Darden and UVA and living and teaching at Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village in Pavilion I is the honor of my life, and I look forward to continuing to partner with this wonderful community to meet this challenge.”